Formicary

Formicary 2[credit]

Ice: Sentry - AP
Strength: 2
Influence: 2

Whenever the Runner approaches a server, you may rez this ice. If you do, move this ice to the innermost position protecting the approached server. The Runner moves to this ice and encounters it.

[subroutine] End the run unless the Runner suffers 2 net damage.

A place of decay and death, a plane out of phase, a place of monsters.
Illustrated by Liiga Smilshkalne
Decklists with this card

Reign and Reverie (rar)

#54 • English
Startup Card Pool
Standard Card Pool
Standard Ban List (show history)
Rulings
  • Updated 2023-09-14

    ANCUR UFAQ 24 [Michael Boggs]

    Can the Corp rez and move more than one Formicary per run?

    Yes. Although forcing the Runner into a Formicary negates the trigger for any additional Formicaries, the next thing the Runner does after passing the first Formicary is approach the server a second time. At that point the Corp could use a second Formicary, and even a third afterward in similar fashion.

    How does Formicary interact with Mti Mwekundu?

    Similarly to the above, once either ability from Formicary or Mti Mwekundu resolves, the Runner is no longer approaching the server and the other ability cannot be triggered. But if the Runner passes the piece of ice encountered this way, they will approach the server again and these abilities can meet their trigger condition again.

Reviews

Formicary is a good Weyland sentry. It's no Archer, Surveyor, or Colossus, but it is a cheap sentry you can slap down on your remote and then have magically defend your centrals when you need it to. Its sub isn't the greatest in the world, it lets the Runner pick their poison after all, and its rez-to-break ratio isn't all that great either, but it's effect is punishing enough that Runners would rather just end the run if they facecheck it and its effect practically begs the Runner to facecheck it when they least expect it to. I think 2 creds for it is a steal, honestly. Also, Formicary was the central part of a hilariously degenerate combo that led to the first banned NISEI card. Since it had the exact same trigger as Cayambe Grid you could choose to let Cayambe fire first, then Formicary, then Cayambe again after the runner breaks the Formicary, then any other Formicary you had laying around, then Cayambe again, and so on. It was not unusual to force the runner to pay 30+ creds on a single run. That was a wild time.

(Uprising era)
137

So that was the reason Cayambe grid was banned!

How does it interact with Boomerang? If Boomerang targets it unrezzed in server 1 for example, when it's rezzed & relocated, does Boomerang follow? Thanks!

Boomerang makes no statement regarding the position of the ice, just that an ice is declared. Once declared, Boomerang keeps track of the declared ice so long as it stays on the board. This means that Boomerang follows even when that piece of ice is moved or derezzed (but not if it is somehow reinstalled).

I wonder why Cayambe Grid was banned, but this cards is "OK" https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/30042 almost same combo effect, not?